Photoblog - Day 132 Aug 20, 2010

Empty Pantry:

Fridays are coding days for our car - this means, due to the ending digit of it's plate number, I have to make sure I'm out of the road before 7am until 10am and from 3pm to 7pm - heck, in some areas there is no middle window. Luckily McKinley isn't such a place. Still... for mornings, this means I have to be in location before 7am.

Any surprise therefore that I can have a picture of the office pantry when it's... for all intents and purposes, still empty... like nearly the rest of the office? Yeah - it looks quiet, and a bit warm (leading me to turn on the aircon in the area) - but it's nice to know that the coffee dispenser does not subscribe to a regular office hour schedule - and can service any needy person (specially one needy for having to wake up earlier than usual due to Coding).

If anything, days like these gives me a rest time before the start of a busy training day. It also makes me get out of the house and arrive in my destination way before traffic sets in. So it's not all bad.

As can be surmised, I used natural lighting from the window to give me all the light I needed - enough to take the shot... not too much to spoil the mood I was going for.

Photoblog - Day 130 Aug 18, 2010

Perspectives and Reflections:

Sometimes, during those days when i have a co-facilitator sharing the talking roles with me, I look for a quiet place. I do this so I can read a novel - or a comic book... at times, I even bring a journal and reflect on how life has been treating me. At other times, it's to reflect on how I've been treating myself.

Yeah... things can be heavy during those days - yet I also reflect on what I have... what I should be thankful for. This ensures that I do not feel any melancholy or feel really pissed with myself. I have a great self-awareness of my priorities - and I would like to think I could recognize my life having fulfilled most, if not all my dreams.

Of course, I likewise recognize some unresolved dreams... and so I consider - are they still worth pursuing? Will I sacrifice something in doing so... or in not doing so? Whatever happens... I know I can do something about what I want to pursue.

This picture is my August picture - a shot against a mirror and the angle was to see if I could capture a different perspective of me and the place I was in. The shot was set wide, so I could just turn it into anything I felt was interesting. The windows cutting across the wall made me pause and realize - what do I think of when I look outside?

To think that this was a set-up shot - with little regard for deeper thinking. Guess the subconscious was working overtime, huh?

Photoblog - Day 129 Aug 17, 2010

Morning coffee:

This is Starbucks at the Fort's Bonifacio High Street. It's one of the few open shops during the mornings... maybe because the proprietors of many shops and boutiques feel that their clients do not show up in this vicinity until lunchtime or after lunch. A pity, since they miss out on the morning crowds... including the call center people.

In my case, I hardly find myself free to hang around this vicinity - but in some instances, like today; I find myself enjoying a relaxing morning with Barbie, en route to my bringing her to her office. How is this possible? Simple... my training this day was scheduled for the after lunch to late evening session - so in my case, I did not have to rush to any location... and in Barbie's case? A meeting outside the office, then off to Parañaque - a trip I volunteered to take her to - and you could say that this breakfast was her way of thanking me.

Yeah... it doesn't always happen - but mornings like this are simple, mundane... and nice to share. Wonder when the next one will happen?

Photoblog - Day 128 Aug 16, 2010

Behind the Camera:

Monday found me working for 12 hours - the last four, officially helping Marimel (a colleague) with Presentation Dynamics... a two-day (or in this case, afternoon to late evening) session.

In such a training, part of the course is to film the participants... said film to be used by us to do a compare and contrast with the participants - to show them where they have (hopefully) improved while attending the course.

Naturally, someone needs to be behind the camera... and in this particular day, it happens to be Bismark... yup - named after the ship or the officer who's name it carried. It also cements my having an easy time to remember said name.

This was just a quick shot - as I decided to take pictures of the participants while they were having their first taping. So what was so special about the picture? Just the angle... and a chance to take the picture of the camera man.

Photoblog - Day 127 Aug 15, 2010

Comics for the Week:

Sometimes, I find myself with too many things to do on weekdays that I can only touch (and read) my comics on a weekend - in this case, Sunday. Yes, I bought these when I went to Makati - first chance I could get there... and it's not as if I like going there when I don't have to. Traffic is always heavy - so it's not a place I would try going to 'just because...'

Still, in times when I do find myself able to go, I make it a point to pass my favorite comic shop... if for no other reason that I get the extra service of having my comics reserved until I arrive... which allows me to visit less often, and get them in a batched manner. They also remember what i ask them to look for - in this case, a missing issue of Birds of Prey #2. Then again - said batching manner means that at times I have to wait real long before I get to read a favorite issue/title. But overall, the experience is cool.

The fact that I sometimes have to wait for an uneventful weekend before I can enjoy them is not lost to me... and at times, it means I wait until I am scheduled to get my check before paying said shop a visit.

Far cry from before when I just couldn't wait to open and read them - maybe see what happens in the end before absorbing the story. Guess my EQ has risen several notches, huh?

Photoblog - Day 123 Aug 11, 2010

Plan B:

About a month or two ago, I noticed on my Twitter follow list (meaning the list of people I follow in Twitter) that Michael Hyatt - a known blogger/resource and inspirational speaker, was having a contest in his blog... offering the first 100 people who could share their disaster leadership experiences in his site, a copy of Pete Wilson's Plan B. A book about what to do when life gives you a curve ball (my words - but I'm sure the author uses it somehow). Naturally, I thought I had nothing to lose - so I shared my Ondoy experience with Michael... taking the necessary steps to follow the site's instructions on what and where to post. Never mind it I noticed that I was the 108th person to post... I thought, well - they'll still choose... so who knows?

Two weeks after, I received an email from Michael's company informing me that I was one of the 100 people whose story they liked and that I was indeed going to receive a copy of Plan B.

About two weeks ago - I receive a parcel notice informing me I have something waiting for me in the post office... a bit of an inconvenience for me to go to - and honestly, I had all but forgotten the book. The email's message being buried with other pressing matters in life.

Still, life finds a way, and I did find myself free this Wednesday - no trainings... no appointments - so off I went to see what this parcel was about... and I did recall, after whacking my brains long enough that this parcel might just be said book. To get to the post office was a bit of a struggle - no parking places near that I knew about, which meant I decided to try the public transport services - and this also meant... just to play safe, not bringing my camera.

Too bad... I would have wanted to take some shots of the grand old post-office's architecture with my DSLR (though I did take a few shots with my cell phone). Anyway, to make a supposed short story not linger any longer, I got the parcel but decided to open it when I finally got home... or when I was in a relatively more private location.

It was definitely Plan B - and I will definitely read it soon.

Thanks Michael and Pete!

Photoblog - Day 126 Aug 14, 2010

AHEAD Training:

The place is AHEAD, Greenhills... the time? 8AM - yes... it's a Saturday, and it happens to be Bryce's first day at this training institute to get him ready to take the College Entrance exams for De La Salle. Barbie and I sort of want him to have some practice/reviewer, and Ahead just had what we were looking for.

Even better, Berna - an old colleague of mine from a few years back (the lady at the right, in the picture), happened to be connected with AHEAD after her Accenture training-related days, so I knew at least one person when it came to inquiring about their services. During our days together, Berna was always able to help her clients - and the days leading to this was no exception. She helped reserve a slot for Bryce and even gave me a reminder text about their starting schedule the day before. Even if she was likewise acting at AHEAD's interest in confirming with me, I still liked the reminder. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised.

So yeah... looks like Bryce and I'll be up early every Saturday - at least, until October - so he can have a better chance at acing the La Salle entrance.

Great idea, this one - and one I'm sure I could have used during my time.

Photoblog - Day 130 Aug 18, 2010

Concrete sunset:

I know... it's not yet technically a sun setting picture, but believe me; this is as low as I get to see it on a regular day. Any later and the buildings (like this one in the picture) cover the horizon and block out any view of said setting sun - at least, from where I am normally found these usual working days.

I would really like to take a beautiful sunset picture sometime... meanwhile, I try to get creative with what I have. I saw how the sun was being covered by the unfinished building... and how the crane (and said building) had it's silhouette being shown against the sun's brightness... so I snapped away.

Should be interesting to compare with a picture of the same building when it's finally finished and furnished. Of course, chances of that happening before the end of this photoblog may be dim - then again, I might be surprised... so who knows?

Photoblog - Day 124 Aug 12, 2010

Blue Skies!

The title is an expression I picked up from watching Doll House (or is it just Dollhouse, as in one word? Yeah that may be it)... but the expression is as far as the picture's connection goes.

McKinley Hill is apparently in the usual air traffic route in and out of Manila, and it is not unusual to therefore see many commercial planes coming and going. I therefore decided to take at least one picture of such coming and going.

This one happens to be going out of Manila - how do I know? Simple... landing gears are hidden. I wished I took the picture of one plane in particular swooping up rather low - but I guess, I'll have to settle for this one in particular. After all, it's not as if I always have my camera in shoot-ready mode. Still... it is a decent picture.


On the side - today happens to be my sister, Bing's birthday. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a picture of her this day... seeing as she was in Batangas while I was in Taguig. Oh well...

Photoblog - day 125 Aug 13, 2010

Wild Shrub?

I'm not exactly a plant expert, but I did notice how these long stemmed flora were swaying against the wind, as I was nearing my car. Naturally, I thought why not try to capture the moment? And so I did.

Where exactly is this place? It's the vacant lot behind the Piazza in McKinley, where I conducted my training in the day. In fact, if you look at the shrub's (I've decided to call it that - even if it may be technically wrong) background, you would see a building's silhouette... albeit, in a rather unfocused manner. That building was where I was at the entire working day.

Mundane as this picture may be, it still reflects the day's happy ending - meaning it was time to let all work-related stuff get off my mind and look forward to a little TGIF with some colleagues - which I did, by the way... after taking this shot. So yeah... TGIF - even one's that fall on the 13th of the month.

Brief interruptions

Murphy struck... as in Murphy's law - and not a person I know in particular.

Yup... for some reason (of which I suspect, but have no proof of... well, maybe one or two that are circumstantial in nature, so I shall just keep it to myself) my laptop crashed last Saturday - and this is no simple (comparatively speaking, that is) blue screen software error. Nope, looks like my laptop's hard disk has given up (sigh).

Naturally, I had most of my password-cookie-ready websites in said laptop, and had to struggle trying to remember said passwords so I could access them in another computer like I'm doing now.

It also meant, that slow process as it was to update my photoblog - things just got a lot longer with preparing and 'publishing' my pictures on said blog. Same with updating my Facebook pictures.

Ah well... such is life. I'm still contemplating on whether I should just get a new laptop - an idea I've been toying with these past few months, but one I've not put serious stock into, since I always thought of it as a 'like' rather than a necessity - until said laptop crash. Anyway... the photoblog must go on of course. It will just be less real-time (as if it ever was, to begin with - he he he). I just wanted to document said fact about my laptop's crash. Maybe I'll still try to revive it - even if I do get a new one.

Photoblog - day 122 Aug 10, 2010

Achieving Balance:

These cans are real... meaning they're not props... nor are they empty. They are not glued together, nor did I use blue tac - instead, they are just well balanced on top of each other. Is it a precarious balance? You bet... and you could even try to take these cans apart and realize that to do this balancing act.

So why'd I do this? Simple... I was slightly bored - and needed a distraction. Then I remembered how, during college, I saw three coke bottles precariously balanced. I just borrowed from that 'glass sculpture' ad tried to see if I could make such a balancing act work.

It did. As the picture shows.

Of course, I just made the cans stay together long enough to take a picture... and declare this my official activity for the day. I then just dismantled the cans from each other.

Photoblog - day 121 Aug 9, 2010

Training Fun!

This picture shows our Application Testing School participants enjoying an energizer, by way of reverse charades. Some purists would insist that the activities here should conform to the lessons being taken - but we're of different thoughts... I would allow the fun - even without any connection to lessons discussed. Why? Because it can be a real waker-upper.

This particular scene was when they (the two people seated and facing their colleagues) were given the tasks to guess what their colleagues/team mates were trying to interpret, based on the movies they saw flashed on the wall by the projector.

Photoblog - day 120 Aug 8, 2010

Brent Baptized!

This is Father Armin, the parish priest of Mary the Queen, as he baptizes Jude Brent within the church's beautiful baptism room. To quote Father Armin, "Modesty aside... this is one of the most beautiful baptismal rooms and fountains in the Philippines".

Now, I may not prove this as fact - but I do have to say that the place is indeed a beauty; which is why I've had both Bryce and Bernice baptized in this very same place - of course, back then... we had Father Reuter do the honors. And now, it's Jude's turn to experience this ritual here.

Witness to the occasion were Jude's ninongs and ninangs - in fact, you can see Bea, the proud mom of Jude, and Benedict... acting as Jude's major ninong, helping Father Armin by offering Jude by the fountain. One humorous situation was the fact that Jude - ever curious, was trying to grab the fountain's water - hence the assistant holding on to Jude's free hand. This definitely endeared him to Father Armin... as he always talked to Jude while the ceremony was under way.

Photoblog - day 119 Aug 7, 2010

Jude Brent's Cake:

I had ordered this cake a few days ago in Goldilocks at the Robinson's Boni (a.k.a. the Forum), to become part of the lunch celebration that is Jude Brent's Baptism, scheduled tomorrow near noon. This will be held at Mary the Queen - with lunch to follow at Max's restaurant.

This will be the 3rd time I will be the 'official photographer' of an occasion - and I plan to put the camera (and my new tripod) to good use.

Going back to the cake, it was a relatively simple design - though you could say that the price of the design is almost like the original price of the cake. Still, when I finally picked this cake up around 9PM - amidst rainfall and some heavy traffic, I must say that the cake was very much worth the price tag. What I am showing in this picture is the main decor for said cake... a small cute Angel figurine (or is that icing? I really did not bother checking).

The icing was marshmallow and the cake's flavor was chocolate. A great cake, though I would have preferred a more moist cake instead of the chiffon we got.

Photoblog - day 118 Aug 6, 2010

Drafted!

Yup! Bryce and I have been drafted into the universal war that is StarCraft, and kudos to everyone that automatically noticed the symbol in the dog-tag. Guess you likewise made a reservation for the game and got a copy of this dog-tag, together with the game and a t-shirt (talk about marketing gimmicks - though I would have wanted a full-sized poster of the game too).

So I'll probably be expecting some busy weekends soon - not because of any other reason other than trying to accomplish the game's objectives and enjoying the adventures. If word from people can be a basis for deciding if the game is great, I guess we're getting mixed reactions - though I must emphasize that the negative comments are more from people who can't seem to get enough of the game.

Personally, I did enjoy Starcraft - in fact, it was one of those games that helped me bond with my staff way back in the I/ACT days. I may reminisce those days a few times... now, I can hopefully relive the enjoyment of those days gone by. After all, instead of network gaming (we used this to really test the classroom network's stability and integrity back then), we can now experience internet gaming.

Whoa...!

Photoblog - day 117 Aug 5, 2010

Zen... part deux:

As mentioned in my previous blog, I had scheduled my facial treatment this particular afternoon - and unlike yesterday, where I had to come from Boni, this day's training was in McKinley Hill (P.M. Planning and Initiate with Gina), so it was just a quick drive from there the Zen Institute. This happens to be the center table's main decor - with a few candlesticks and glossy magazines to greet and distract the Institute's clients while waiting for their treatments to start.

So how did this go? Well, I'm no stranger to facials, having had several in years past - though I would normally try the services of Let's Face It when it came to this... thus I also had a comparative analysis - experience-wise. Let me just say that Zen puts you in a private cubicle - as opposed to Let's Face It's more common area.

I would also have to say that the Zen Institute's facial treatment felt lighter... maybe less painful, or maybe my face was just not the dirty... who knows? I think there were at least two instances where the attendant (or therapist... i really don't know what to call this person) found some stubborn dirt in my face and had to resort to some pricking... btu even then it was done lightly... hardly intrusive.

So experience-wise, I'd say that the Zen's facilities and people are friendlier, cozier - and in my facial experience... less painful than with Let's Face It - but when you possibly consider price differences, I would understand why many would still prefer going to Let's Fae It... me included.

What I still find antsy... ans this is true for both Zen and LFI... is the long treatment and wait; all the while at one's back. I mean, it can really fet tiring if one has to lie down for an hour... maybe more - and pipe-in music does not help while the time away.

One last thing... I still am in the dark as to what a diamond peel is about. Maybe the attendant was doing it to me already, but I was too distracted with my getting antsy on my back already. Maybe they should allow for some stretching breaks.

Photoblog - day 116 Aug 4, 2010

Zen...

This orchid was at a side table found in the reception area of the Zen Institute in The Fort, Taguig... and why did I find myself in this area? Well, let's just say, I was making good on a gift certificate given me by Barbie to avail of the services offered by Zen Institute and Medical Spa (yup, that's it's name... and I bet you can understand my interest, just by that).

The thing is, I had this gift certificate for close to four months now... and the reason it was not used earlier was due to the need to make an appointment for said services - well, I found myself rather busy to make such an appointment - besides, with the certificate out of sight at times... well, let's just say the making of an appointment became 'out of mind'.

So what did I avail of? The massage, naturally - and they did give me a one hour Swedish massage (meaning my muscles were kneaded with the assistance of some fragrant massage oil), and though the experience was a bit relaxing, I guess I had gotten so used to harder massages that I found the experience a bit wanting.

Then again, their point-person did tell me that the Zen Institute was more a facial clinic than a massage spa... so I guess that explains it. So when in the Fort, I would still have to say The Spa is the place to go to for some serious massage.

Meanwhile, part two of my Zen experience will happen the next day - you see, said gift certificate included a facial and diamond peel service... one that would last an hour, so one I decided to try (and schedule for) the next day.

Photoblog - day 115 Aug 3, 2010

Inner Circle:

I 'discovered' this inner circle while doing my rounds in the Ideas Exchange area - during days when there are not too many people in it the place is somehow cordoned off by chairs, and with but a simple effort to move the chairs, one can really have a semblance of privacy in place that people will not look at because the more visible area would be the more obvious outside 'circle' - and by circle, I mean the area's arrangement as the chairs surround a round table, and the entire area is enclosed (and I use the word loosely here) by long thin strings (okay, maybe yarn-thick might be a better description) of cotton rope hanging from ceiling to floor.

The effect of the string makes an illusion of a divider, some reminiscent of Arabian inspired images where someone is veiled (though not truly hidden) from view by anyone outside. In normally lit days, this inner sanctum will hide little... but at times like this, one could probably snooze a bit and people passing by will hardly notice - unless one sleeps noisily, or is wearing reflectively bright colors that jump out of the shadows.

Yup... a nice place to hang - if one wants some semblance of privacy; specially when trying to come up with great ideas... or just wanting some down-time.

Photoblog - day 114, Aug 2, 2010

Gloomy Monday:

No I'm not talking about my feelings here - I literally mean that the weather, due to the seeming return of afternoon rains, has turned Monday into a gloomy afternoon; as shown by my picture. The view is of the Makati (Rockwell) area on the left of the Pasig River, and Mandaluyong rooftops to the river's right.

Not too obvious are the overcast clouds (due to my using some contrast adjustments to brighten some details), but believe me, this picture is almost grayish in both color and feeling (when one looks at it), hence the gloomy feeling. The silver lining to this is that the rains did not stay too long - and by the time people were on their way home, it had stopped, thus not contributing much to traffic... that is, until it resumed at a latter hour - but by then I was home.

This view is from the 18th floor of the Cyber2 tower of Robinson's in Boni, where I found myself conducting Component Application Design in Accenture around this time. My talking hours were more in the morning - thus affording me the time for such picture shots.